Worldwide automation market set to grow

BOSTON, Mass. – The worldwide market for production machinery automation, including AC drives, PLCs, motion control products, computer numerical controls and machine safeguarding products, is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 3.4 percent over the next five years. The market was $18 billion US in 2008, and is forecasted to be over $21.2 billion US by 2013, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study, Production Machinery Automation Worldwide Outlook.

"Increasingly more machinery applications are moving to much higher
speeds of operation, as well as providing more capability to reduce
changeover time," said Sal Spada, research director with the ARC
Advisory Group, and principal author of the study. "Production raw
materials are becoming less consistent as recycled materials enter the
market. The result is that machine builders need to consider a wider
range of operation in the original design to accommodate changes."

Developing economies all over the world are increasing the demand for
industrial production machinery at high rates. Feeding this demand has
been a surge of regional machine builders in emerging markets. Domestic
machine builders with a vertical specialization have an advantage that
goes beyond machine performance issues. It is the greater understanding
of the technical and cultural needs of the end user customer that are
now emerging as competitive advantages to machine builders in these
markets. Regional OEMs, including both domestic and foreign
transplants, have leveraged their close proximity to the customer to
create an understanding of the particular niche their customers operate
in and are able to build machines that are more suitable for regional
issues. The growth of OEMs in emerging markets has enabled
manufacturers who once relied on a comparative labour advantage to
produce low valued products and become confident with employing
machinery in their facilities that will enable production of higher
valued finished goods. Because of this, industrial automation suppliers
are also experiencing a tremendous growth in these emerging markets in
both unit volume and unit value.

To access the report, visit www.arcweb.com.